Can we consider anime a high art? Before we can answer this question, we have to define what high art means. High art typically involves works of art that stand the test of time. They can include music, opera, literature, music, and the visual arts. High art contains messages or moves people. Most of all,…
Author: Chris Kincaid
The Experience of Rewriting Japanese Folklore for Modern Readers
My work Tales from Old Japan: Folktales and Legends from the Land of the Rising Sun proved to be a 4-year writing challenge. It’s my most ambition project so far, and one that I felt inadequate doing. The goal was to collect every Japanese folktale available in English and rewrite them for modern readers. I…
Anime’s Bad Story Telling Habits
Anime has problems with its story telling habits. Habits we as fans often take for granted. It’s just how anime is, we say when we notice these problems. We overlook them. But in the end, these habits of anime–killing tension, breaking world rules, escalation of power, getting lost in complexity, flashbacks, and undoing everything–are just…
The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent
An isekei with a female lead? Sounds good! Unfortunately, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent has many interesting aspects, but suffers from a passive protagonist. Sei Takanashi sits in the center of a reverse harem in an rpg-like fantasy world. This is an isekei, after all. Like most isekei, Sei is overpowered. I mean, it’s…
What Was Happening in Japan When:
Sometimes I struggle to keep a large picture view of history. When I’m researching or reading about a time period, I don’t think about what was happening elsewhere in the world at the time. This causes me to keep a siloed view of history. Yet, we have evidence that humans from across the world have…
Kai Riu O, The Dragon King of the World Under the Sea
This week, we finish this folklore series with one more from William Griffis. This time we meet a dragon. As before, this version retains Griffis’s original text. I also included Griffis’s commentary. Soon after her arrival at home, the empress Jingu gave birth to a son, whom she named Ojin. He was one of the…